Eco Friendly Party Favours

[ecofriendlywendy]

Any ideas?
I am drawing a blank.
Preferably something I could make myself. Thanks all x

Actually I'm just after eco friendly party ideas in general.
decor, bits and bobs, party games... has anyone made it work? Zero waste or eco friendly?

Seeds?

Kids like growing things, and you can get seed bombs/tiny growing pots.

To be ecological I think you need to aim for both necessary and sustainably produced. Unnecessary stuff is still wasteful even if sustainably produced.

Play in choc do little boxes with chocolate and a cardboard animal to put together. My kids love them

Oh, and reusable.

I.e. Try getting things with multiple purposes. People put a lot of emphasis on recycling, but the first two principles are Reduce and Reuse.

Slice of cake in a napkin, like when I was a kid?

Adults or children?
Growing herbs in a pot
Bulbs in a pot
Colouring pencils

There’s an FB group called “plastic free Christmas” which is full of ideas.

I’ve made lots of decorations out of cardboard, from our Christmas centrepiece to giant gingerbread, if you’ve got time and paint and can hold a pencil it’s totally possible. I’ve bought and reused balloon tape to hang things, stitched circles of paper together for garlands and used fabric scraps to make bunting (including old clothes).

Present wise, the things that are eco friendly are seed bombs, plants/veg to grow, pencils you grow when you’ve used them.

Or go the other way and do things kids would keep (and those are the things we all hate), pebbles they’ve found and painted, plasticine/clay models, badge they’ve made, photo of them and the birthday kid, our kids get more sentimental over ‘things they’ve made’ than bits of plastic.

Kids don’t need party favours. Slice of cake is perfect

For my daughters birthday I went to the works and got 10 books for a £10 x2 and handed them out instead of pArty bags to reduce waste.

I save as many as the decorations and table cloths that I can put them on the party box and pull them out each year. She's had her birthday banner since her first birthday. When it finally is unusable I'll probably do bunting or something.

If at home I do the buffet on serving plates rather than on plastic things. If there's not to many coming I use the plastic plates the children use for dinner (we have loads of the idea plastic plates that come in loads of colours and like 10 in a pack)

@ModerationInEverything

Slice of cake in a napkin, like when I was a kid?

Perfect. This has bought back memories.

@ModerationInEverything I did want to do this at first but all of the children's parties my children have been to have had party bags full of little bits and bobs and my daughter was crying saying she will be the odd one out if her party doesn't have a party bag.
So I Don't really want any upset on her birthday.

My original idea was to have a little 'make your own fairy crown and wand' out of paper with colouring in and paper confetti and maybe dried flowers for the girls to take home.

I also like the flower seeds idea.
Would bird seed or make your own fat ball bird feeder be a bit over the top? it's just lard and bird seed which I can get in my own reusable container from the pet shop but maybe that's a bit messy for party clothes?

I have made a bunch of notebooks from left over paper from lockdown notebooks. Nothing much just a little extra.

Still seems pretty bleak compared to slime and play dough in everyone else's bags.

Get them a little plant or packet of seeds and the cake and that should be fine?

You can make playdough an put it in little glass jars (like Gu jars with Pringle lids)

I've used recyclable paper lunch bags and I've bought a book for each child they're 10 for £10 in the works and I'm just then giving a slice of birthday cake and some sweets.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

Adults or children? Growing herbs in a pot Bulbs in a pot Colouring pencils

There’s an FB group called “plastic free Christmas” which is full of ideas.

For children.

I love the idea of bulbs in a pot but when I was a child, anything messy or involving parents helping just wasn't done and I was always sad if i left a party with something to do at home.
I have bought several packs of seeds that you sow outdoors.

We did a party where they decorated their paper party bags and did crafts to fill it throughout the party. Not perfect but it wasn't loads of stuff wasted either

A shampoo bar or bar of soap? Although that not made yourself

@GiveMeNovocain

We did a party where they decorated their paper party bags and did crafts to fill it throughout the party. Not perfect but it wasn't loads of stuff wasted either

Ooh that's lovely. Could get some jam jars and decorate them to make candle holders?

Colouring sheet from Tree Tools website plus twig pencil.

https://www.treetoolsforschools.org.uk/categorymenu/?cat=seasons&name=Seasons%20and%20festivals&col=F3859B

https://www.babipur.co.uk/toys/pocket-money-party/pack-of-10-colour-pencils.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiArt6PBhCoARIsAMF5waihvaiPtmLGag7p17kxpVdM8Y-YDdMiA4YMtpSsl32R60MriPPY8nsaAlk5EALw_wcB

@GiveMeNovocain

We did a party where they decorated their paper party bags and did crafts to fill it throughout the party. Not perfect but it wasn't loads of stuff wasted either

i love this idea! Did you organise the party or just attend? What kinds of crafts?

Origami?

Animal masks made from card? There are printable templates online and the children could colour them in during the party.

A crafting party is a lovely idea.

Along the "decorate your own" theme, you can get picture mounts/cardboard picture frames and have the kids all decorate the frames so they have something to take home.

If you also wanted to have them colour in a picture for their frame, or send home a photo of the party group that you take at the start of the party and print out either on your home printer or send to them another day to put in their frame.

I use reusable plates, cups and bowls. I bought a set of 20 or so early on and many of my friends borrow the set so it gets lots of use. I never really went in for decorations. I’m not creative and hate the waste. But I bought a happy birthday banner which comes out for all their parties. For party bags we’ve done stuff like wooden keg ring kits they can make with their initial, cute socks (my friend’s idea), bath bombs, books, cookie cutters, cute pocket tissue packs from Tiger. As well as a sweet and some stickers.

@ecofriendlywendy there is a Facebook group called "Plastic Free Christmas" which has lots of ideas for plastic free parties, not just Christmas..

Whyyy is there a societal pressure to do party bags 😭😭 how much would you normally set aside for the budget per child?